Bahrain ‘tortured detainees years after 2011 protests’

Bahrain’s security forces tortured detainees in the years after its 2011 protests, despite a government promise to stop such abuses, according to a new report.

The Human Rights Watch report on Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, corresponds with accounts of abuse provided by Amnesty International and local activists.

It comes as Bahrain, which has seen years of low-level unrest, has announced the seizure of explosives and weapons it links to Iran, while stripping convicts of their citizenship.

In a statement Bahrain’s government said the country “is unequivocally opposed to mistreatment of any kind”, without addressing the specific torture allegations outlined in the report.

Large-scale protests erupted in Western-allied Bahrain in February 2011, demonstrations that were led by the country’s majority Shiites seeking greater political rights from the Sunni monarchy. Bahraini authorities, backed by security forces from nearby Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, crushed the rallies, but unrest continues.

The Human Rights Watch report is based on evidence offered by 14 people, who described being physically assaulted while in police or security service custody.

Several quoted in the report said they suffered electric shocks and sexual abuse, while others described being hung in painful positions or being exposed to extreme cold.

In one case, a detainee in the report described an officer shoving something under his nose and being told it was “the blood of people who don’t co-operate”. One said officers beat his genitals with a hose and penetrated him with their fingers. Another told Human Rights Watch that officers threatened to rape his wife.

Following the 2011 protests, the government vowed to grant “no immunity” for anyone suspected of abuses. At that time, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa listened somberly to a report issued by a government-sponsored investigator outlining how his security forces used torture and excessive force to stomp out the demonstrations.

Human Rights Watch said little has changed since then.

“There have been few prosecutions for abuses relating to the serious and widespread abuses that (the investigators) documented” in 2011, the report said.

“The few that have resulted have, almost exclusively, involved low-ranking officers, and have – without exception – resulted in acquittals or disproportionately light sentences.”

In a letter included in the report, the inspector-general of Bahrain’s Interior Ministry disputed Human Rights Watch’s findings without addressing the lack of convictions.

“No human rights purpose is served by criticising the institutions publicly before they have had the opportunity to receive and investigate the allegations,” the letter from Maj Gen Ibrahim al-Ghaith said.

“To the contrary, by doing so, you undermine their purpose and effort to protect peoples’ rights.”

In the Bahraini statement the government said 73 security force members – “including high-ranking officers” – had been “transferred to courts on charges of mistreatment”.

The report comes amid an increase in major raids carried out by police, in which they say they have recovered large amounts of explosive material and weapons.

Bahrain has accused regional Shiite power Iran with supplying the weaponry and training militants. Last month, it ordered the acting Iranian charge d’affaires out of the country.

Bahrain blamed Iran for stirring up the initial 2011 protests as well, though the government-sponsored investigation after the demonstrations found no evidence of that. In its statement, Bahrain’s government disputed that and said the country acted on intelligence provided to it by other nations regarding Iran.

“Western diplomats and security agencies have verified these facts, and the successful interception of explosive materials recently was due to intelligence received from Western allies,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the arrests of human rights activists, protesters and suspected militants have continued. In recent weeks, Bahrain increasingly has been stripping convicts of their citizenship.

Al Wefaq, Bahrain’s largest Shiite opposition group, says at least 199 people have lost their citizenship as “a punitive measure against dissidents.”